FOIA News: EEOC to launch new FOIA software

EEOC TO LAUNCH NEW FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA) SOFTWARE

Beginning Feb. 1, Requesters Can Initiate New FOIA Requests and Appeals Using New Tool

EEOC Press Release, Jan. 29, 2021

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced today that, effective Feb. 1, it will begin using a new software system (“the 2021 system”) to receive and process Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and appeals, replacing the system it has used since 2015.

As part of EEOC's ongoing commitment to transparency and accountability, FOIA requesters will continue to be able to monitor their requests and appeals online and exchange correspondence and documents with EEOC electronically.  While EEOC posts many agency documents on its website, and in its online FOIA public reference room, individuals can submit FOIA requests for other records.

Read more here.

Court opinion issued Jan. 27, 2020

Judicial Watch v. DOD (D.D.C.) -- concluding that government properly invoked Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege to withhold records concerning 2015 proposal to integrate women in all Marine Corps occupational specialties, and that agency met the foreseeable harm requirement.

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.

FOIA News: OGIS Publishes COVID-19 FOIA Website Review Follow-up

OGIS Publishes COVID-19 FOIA Website Review Follow-up

By C. Lemelin, Office of Government Information Services, Jan. 28, 2021

OGIS is pleased to announce publication of our latest report which examines whether agencies are following the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Information Policy (OIP) guidance encouraging them to post alerts on their websites indicating how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their FOIA operations. The results of this assessment, for which OGIS reviewed 305 agency and department FOIA websites, shows that 47 percent of the federal FOIA websites we reviewed alert requesters to changes in their FOIA processing due to the pandemic. Generally, agencies that receive a higher volume of FOIA requests are more likely to have COVID alerts on their FOIA websites than agencies that receive fewer FOIA requests. Read our report the findings and download the spreadsheet of our findings.

Read more here.

Court opinions issued Jan. 26, 2021

Ball v. USMS (D.D.C.) -- finding that: (1) U.S. Marshals Service, Treasury, and DHS performed adequate searches for records pertaining to plaintiff; and (2) USMS and DHS properly withheld records pursuant to Exemptions 3 (Federal Victim and Witness Protection Act), 6, 7(C), and 7(E).

Scott v. IRS (S.D. Fla.) -- deciding that: (1) IRS performed reasonable search for records pertaining to a private letter ruling; (2) agency properly withheld records pursuant to Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege, except for a few redactions, and it met the foreseeable harm requirement.

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.

Court opinions issued Jan. 25, 2021

Mertes v. IRS (E.D. Cal.) -- ruling that agency’s full disclosure of Form 709 that plaintiff requested did not moot case because agency failed to process a related document (Form 706) and both forms constituted a single “record” under DOJ’s guidance.

Eddington v. DOD (D.D.C.) -- dismissing case after determining that plaintiff failed to rebut agency’s sworn declaration that it had not received any of fourteen requests reportedly sent by plaintiff via email.

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.

Court opinions issued Jan. 21, 2021

WP Co. v. SBA (D.D.C.) -- awarding litigations costs and all but around twenty percent of attorney fees in case involving loans approved pursuant to COVID-19 relief programs. In reaching its decision, the court found that plaintiffs were entitled to fees even though government had a reasonable basis for initially withholding requested data.

White v. DOJ (S.D. Ill.) -- declining to hold U.S. Marshals Service in contempt or to award plaintiff litigation costs, but stating that: (1) agency’s delay in responding to plaintiff’s 2013 request was “appalling”; (2) it was “inexcusable” that agency was unprepared for “foreseeable and regular complications”; and (3) USMS “must upgrade its FOIA processing protocols to avoid such delinquencies in the future.”

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.

FOIA News: Gov't ordered to pay attorney's fees in PPP loan case

Ballard Spahr Wins $122K in Legal Fees in FOIA Suit Over PPP Loan Secrecy

The open records lawsuit ultimately forced the Trump administration to released detailed information about who received PPP loans.

By Nate Robson, Nat’l Law Journal, January 21, 2021

Ballard Spahr will receive $122,347 in legal fees for its work in an open records lawsuit that forced the U.S. government to release detailed information about who received hundreds of millions of dollars through a COVID-19 emergency loan program.

The law firm asked for nearly $154,842 in fees and costs, but U.S. District Judge James Boasberg of the District of Columbia on Thursday said Ballard Spahr failed to support its billing rates and hours worked, and subsequently shaved off nearly $32,000

Read more here.

FOIA News: Environmentalists seek FOIA reforms

Greens push Congress for stronger FOIA protections

By Kevin Bogardus, E&E News, Jan. 15, 2021

Environmental groups, drawing from their battles for public records with the Trump administration, are calling on Congress to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act.

Fourteen green organizations, including the Center for Biological Diversity, Earthjustice, the Sierra Club and the Western Values Project, sent a letter yesterday to House and Senate lawmakers with recommendations on how to improve the more than 50-year-old transparency law.

Read more here (accessible with free trial subscription)

Court opinion issued Jan. 14, 2021

Cause of Action Inst. v. U.S. Dep’t of Commerce (D.D.C.) -- holding that agency properly relied on Exemption 5’s presidential communications privilege to withhold a report prepared for the President, except for portions of the report directly quoted in a presidential proclamation.

Summaries of all published opinions issued since April 2015 are available here.

FOIA News: ICYMI, FOIA Project issues litigation study

When FOIA Goes to Court: 20 Years of Freedom of Information Act Litigation by News Organizations and Reporters

FOIA Project, Jan. 13th, 2021

The news media are powerful players in the world of government transparency and public accountability. One important tool for ensuring public accountability is through invoking transparency mandates provided by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). In 2020, news organizations and individual reporters filed 122 different FOIA suits[1] to compel disclosure of federal government records—more than any year on record according to federal court data back to 2001 analyzed by the FOIA Project. 

Read more here.